Autistic boy flees airport...

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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... chool.html



"The parents of an autistic teen who left Bob Hope Airport on Wednesday and was found hours later in West Hollywood did not pay the airline for an attending escort, an aviation source said — allowing the boy to escape the notice of officials until he was long gone.

Cameron James Smith was scheduled to fly to a specialized school in Salt Lake City. When he was found seven hours later, he told police he was running away because he did not want to return to the school, the Burbank Leader reported.

Cameron was spotted a little after 5:30 p.m. by two people in the heart of West Hollywood. They recognized him from a news alert they had received on their smartphones.

They informed Cameron the police were looking for him, and he ducked into the Pizza Rustica restaurant near Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards, Burbank Police Sgt. Darin Ryburn said.
They followed him into the restaurant, where Cameron locked himself in the restroom. They called the Burbank Police Department, and Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies contacted the boy in the restaurant.

Cameron was brought back to the Burbank Police Department, interviewed and released to his mother, Ryburn said.

Earlier in the morning, Cameron's mother had taken him to the airport to make sure he boarded a 10:30 a.m. Delta Connection flight safely. But when the plane experienced mechanical problems, it returned to the gate, where the passengers exited the aircraft, according to airport officials.

Cameron left the airport and took a shuttle to the airport's entrance, where he caught a bus to West Hollywood, Burbank police said.

The aviation source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said Thursday that Cameron's parents did not pay an unaccompanied minor fee and told the airline that Cameron was older than 14. They also did not tell the airline he was autistic with high-functioning Asperger's syndrome, the source said.

Each airline has its own guidelines for minor passengers. The policy at SkyWest, which operates Delta Connection, is that an unaccompanied minor fee must be paid for passengers 14 and younger who are flying alone, an official for the airline said.

Airport officials on Wednesday said the boy's mother, whom authorities have not identified, told them that her son was 14. In later conversations with Burbank police, officers said she told them he was 15."

It seems to me that three things are going on here. The parents of this child seem to be acting in a suspicious manner. It makes you wonder if they're fit to have a child when they lie about his age and send him on a plane without supervision. The child seems to have some other issues than just Asperger's Syndrome. That or he's lower functioning than the news people are letting on. Lastly it seems that Autism is being thrown around here to create a "human interest" story. It really upsets me when people act like a child with AS is incapable of living normal life. I realize that AS can be quite difficult to live with and a true handicap, I know I have it, but "high functioning Aspergers"? It sounds like the kid decided to run away and his "autism" was just thrown in because it's such an emotionally charged word.

The article says the boy had autism not Aspergers.

i know what you mean, and right when see's these news story on some autisic being lost becouse they ran off. it give every this idea the all of us with AS will run off if we werent being watched. when am with my grandma she thinks i be watched. its true some auticitc are runners but not all are runners. in this boys case. he is not a runner but ran away on purpose and trying not get cot. so the kid knew what he was doing so autism was not the proplem. he is just a person dianosed with AS that was shwon on the news. trowing ideas into the news make the news more exciteting is nothing new . they just added autism in there becouse it brings veiwers in. just as news is always talking about murder all the time.

and this news makes sound like were all incapable of getting on a plane by our selves and this boy chould of gotting on the plane by himself just fine so there is no need to disclose his autism to the airlines. but it seems odd his parents lied about his age

My question is what is going on at school that he hated it so much to run away?

Actually it does say Asperger's:

"They also did not tell the airline he was autistic with high-functioning Asperger's syndrome, the source said."

I stand corrected. Still don't agree there was any motive to misrepresent people with Aspergers. This is just a media story to get public interest.

Sounds like the parents lied about their kid's age to save some money and are now weaseling their way out of the consequences of being caught by blaming their kid's autism. That's just a bummer. Maybe they should've worked out their issues with their son and why he didn't want to go back to the school before such chaos resulted.